herodotus' "mêdikos logos" and median history

British Institute of Persian Studies

Herodotus' "Mêdikos Logos" and Median HistoryAuthor(s): Peyton R. HelmSource: Iran, Vol. 19 (1981), pp. 85-90Published by: British Institute of Persian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4299708 .

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HERODOTUS' MEDIKOS LOGOS AND MEDIAN HISTORY'

By Peyton R. Helm

Herodotus' outline of Median history, the Medikos Logos of Histories 1.95-106, remains the earliest and most important treatment of the history of pre-Achaemenid Media. A reconsideration of the Herodotean narrative and its chronology in their relation to the contemporary Near Eastern evidence

will reveal, however, that the Midikos Logos cannot be used to reconstruct early Median history. Rather its usefulness lies in what it can tell us about Herodotus' sources for this section: Iranian popular saga and Achaemenid royal propaganda.

In the century since the great cuneiform scholar George Smith first recognized Herodotus' "Deioces" in the "Daiukku" of the Assyrian annals,2 Assyriologists have combed the cuneiform records contemporary with this period for additional confirmations of the Herodotean account.

Although a small number of apparent correspondences with Herodotus' narrative has been discovered, there is still no contemporary source for Median history which provides anything like a continuous account. Archaeology has discovered only two undisputably Median sites to date, and has

yet to uncover a single Median text.3 Historians of the ancient Near East have usually been content to

strip the Herodotean account of its most obviously folkloristic elements, to tinker with its chronology and dynastic sequence, and then to graft onto the "historicized" narrative those details of Median

history which can be gleaned from the neo-Assyrian sources. The validity of the narrative framework itself, and of the dynastic and chronological assumptions implicit in it, has only occasionally been

questioned.4 We may begin with a quick review of Herodotus' narrative. Originally "scattered in villages"

(1.96.2), the Medes were united by the lawgiver Deioces, whose 53-year reign culminated in his construction of a central capital at Ecbatana (1.98.3,4). Deioces' son and successor Phraortes embarked, during his 22-year rule, on a programme of conquest throughout "Upper Asia", ending in a disastrous war with Assyria in which he lost both his empire and his life (1.102).' Phraortes' heir,

Cyaxares, reorganized the Median army, rebuilt his father's empire, and almost captured "Ninos" (Nineveh) before invading Scythians led by their king, "Madyes, son of Protothyes", wrested control of

Upper Asia from him (1.103-104). After 28 years Cyaxares disposed of his Scythian overlords, regained his empire, and concluded his 40-year reign by capturing Ninos (1.106.2).6 Cyaxares' son Astyages then reigned 35 years before his defeat by Cyrus (1.130.1).

When we turn to the evidence from the ancient Near Eastern sources we find a number of

apparent verifications of this account. In his annals for 715 B.c. Sargon II of Assyria mentions a "Daiukku, governor of Mannea" (mDa-a-a-uk-ki Lru 'akin KUR Manndja) who conspired with the king of Urartu against Ullusunu of Uishdish, an Assyrian ally, and whom Sargon removed from Mannea.7 In his Display Inscription Sargon adds the information that Daiukku and his family were deported to North Syria and resettled in the city of Hamath.8 The identification of Daiukku with Herodotus' Deioces has found almost unanimous acceptance among scholars. Many students of Median history have also interpreted Winckler's reading of the place name Bft-Daiukki ("The House of Deioces") in line 140 of the Room II Annals as proof that Daiukku bequeathed to his successors a territorial and

dynastic legacy which resulted, a generation or two later, in the unification of the Medes. According to this reconstruction Herodotus mistakenly attributed this accomplishment to the dynasty's eponymous founder.9

Herodotus' Phraortes, son of Deioces, has usually been associated with Kashtaritu, a Zagros leader known from the omen queries of Esarhaddon.'o The name "Kashtaritu" is sometimes explained as an Assyrian rendering of Phraortes' throne name or royal title, and Kashtaritu is usually considered the son or grandson of Daiukku." Three lines of reasoning have been invoked to support the

85



86 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES

Phraortes/Kashtaritu identification. First, the omen queries mentioning Kashtaritu probably date from the period 675-673 B.C., contemporary with the dates of 675-653 which some analyses of Herodotean chronology assign to Phraortes.12 Second, the omen queries concerning Kashtaritu have usually been interpreted as verifying that he united "Mannean, Median and freshly arrived Cimmerian forces in a broad, anti-Assyrian alliance".'3 Herodotus' remark that Phraortes "subdued Asia nation by nation" before campaigning against Assyria (KatForpEpstvo 'rv 'AAi•tv &r' ~iXXou'en' •drxo kbv'MOvog, ~s 0 orpaTuoudCtivog ~iri tzob 'Aoaupious ... 1.102.2) is presumed to allude to this coalition.'4 Finally, and most relevant to my present purpose, ?~24 and 53-54 of the Bisitun Inscription relate that upon Darius' accession a usurper named Fravartish (Greek "Phraortes") raised the standard of revolt in Media by claiming "I am Khshathrita, of the family of Cyaxares". "Khshathrita" is simply the Iranian name which seventh-century Assyrian scribes had rendered in Akkadian as "Kashtaritu". The sixth- century Fravartish's adoption of the name Khshathrita has frequently been thought to support the identification of Herodotus' Median king "Phraortes" with the Kashtaritu of the Assyrian texts."

Other details of Herodotus' Median history find confirmation in the cuneiform sources: the

Scythian king Protothyes (1.103.3) is probably identical with "Partatua, king of the Scythians" (mPar-ta-tu-a Sar sa KUR Hguza) found in one of Esarhaddon's omen queries.'6 The contemporary Babylonian Chronicle records the capture of Nineveh by Cyaxares (Babylonian "Umakishtar") and

Cyrus' defeat of Astyages (Babylonian "Ishtumegu").17 But a more careful review of the cuneiform passages thought to support the accuracy of

Herodotus' account reveals that the contemporary sources do little to confirm Herodotus' version of events and that any reconstruction of Median history based on the Me'dikos Logos is of dubious historical value.

To begin with, it is difficult to understand how Sargon's Daiukku can be considered a Mede. The annals designate Daiukku as a governor of Mannea, and while the exact location of his district is not

specified, presumably it was in the northern reaches of Mannea-near enough to Urartu to make intrigue with its king convenient, and bordering Uishdish, the target of the conspiracy.'" The Annals therefore place Daiukku at a considerable remove from Media, which Sargon considered a separate tactical problem.'9 "Bit-Daiukki'", the political, geographic, and dynastic link between Daiukku's abortive career and the careers of his "successors", never existed. Though references to Bft-Daiukki continue to appear in a number of modern works on Median history, this toponym is simply a product of Winckler's misreading of a line in the Annals, corrected in 1927 by Thureau-Dangin.20

Similar difficulties appear when we look more closely at Kashtaritu. Though the Assyrian orthography apparently renders an Iranian name associated with Old Persian Khshathrita, it is note-

worthy that there is nothing in any contemporary source to indicate a political, familial, geographical, ethnic or any other sort of relationship between Daiukku and Kashtaritu. In fact, there is no evidence in the cuneiform sources that the Assyrians even considered Kashtaritu a Mede. On the contrary, the omen queries consistently describe him as "the lord of the city of Kdr-Kass~i". The specific location of this city is unknown, but its name suggests a site in the "land of the Kassites", neo-Assyrian Namri, perhaps to be located north of Diyala river, between the Jebel Hamrin and the Bazian ranges.21 Furthermore, the omen queries generally list the troops of Kashtaritu separately from the troops of the Medes. One omen query, indeed, relates that Kashtaritu wrote to a leader of the Medes suggesting an alliance.22 It is even doubtful that Kashtaritu ever formed the anti-Assyrian coalition with which he is credited. The recurrent phrase in the omen queries on which this widespread assumption has been based does not actually support such a conclusion.23

The contemporary Assyrian records also belie the early unification of the Medes, which is fundamental to the Herodotean narrative.24 Four years before the sole appearance in the Annals of the "unifier" Daiukku/Deioces, Sargon records the receipt of tribute from 28 independent Median chieftains. In 715 B.c., after exiling Daiukku to Hamath, Sargon collected tribute from 22 Median chiefs."25 Even in the time of Kashtaritu unity among the Medes would seem to be out of the question. Esarhaddon mentions by name five Median leaders who were independent tributaries, and three of these had, at one point, petitioned the Assyrian king to intervene in internal disputes among the Median nobility.'26



HERODOTUS' MEDIKOS LOGOS AND MEDIAN HISTORY 87

Finally, it must be acknowledged that Herodotus' reign lengths for the Median kings, so frequently discussed in the scholarship of recent years, are of greater interest for the student of early Greek chronography than for the historian of pre-Achaemenid Iran.27 A full treatment of all the questions raised by recent studies cannot be offered here, yet one fact is quite clear: Herodotus' reign totals for the Deiocid dynasty are irreconcilable with the absolute chronology of developments in Iran during this period.

The absolute dates for the Median kings are usually derived by taking as a starting point the year 585 aB..-the date of the solar eclipse which halted the war between Cyaxares and Alyattes-and counting backwards using the reign totals provided by Herodotus. This procedure gives the result: Deioces, 700-647; Phraortes, 647-625; Cyaxares, 625-585; Astyages, 585-550.28 Yet these dates are unworkable at both ends of the sequence: Daiukku of Mannea was deported to Syria fifteen years before the beginning of "Deioces' " 53-year reign. Cyaxares' 40-year rule was thought to include the 28-year Scythian interregnum, yet the Babylonian Chronicle testifies that he led a powerful and independent Median state from at least 615 B.C. down to 585 B.C.29 Clearly the Herodotean reign totals have little to do with the real chronology of pre-Achaemenid Iran. Rather, as the studies cited earlier (note 27) suggest, they are dependent on the efforts of the Greek chronographers and historians whose systems Herodotus adopted to derive the great empires of the East from the hero Heracles.

The results of the foregoing review indicate that the Midikos Logos preserves no trustworthy historical information about the Medes prior to the reign of Cyaxares, and that its chronographic data must be rejected entirely in studying the absolute chronology of Median history. In fact, the chief value of the Midikos Logos may lie in what it can tell us about the Medes' knowledge of their own past and the nature of the sources they made available to Greek historical writers.

An important clue is found in ?24 of the Bisitun Inscription. Here Darius refers to the Median rebel Fravartish (Phraortes) who claimed "I am Khshathrita, of the family of Cyaxares". Elsewhere in the inscription Darius relates that six more rebels, suppressed in various parts of the empire, had claimed the names of great heroes from their nations' pasts, or legitimate descent from the national royal line.30 It is significant that in 522 B.c. the rebel Phraortes could hope to rally support among the Medes by invoking the name of Khshathrita (Assyrian "Kashtaritu"). Within less than 150 years this historical Zagros prince, who was apparently no Mede at all, seems to have become a legendary name by which Medes could conjure. It was, perhaps, a similar process that translated the Mannean leader Daiukku into a regional folk hero adopted by Median tradition as the founder of the Median nation.

The rapidity with which such historical figures became legendary heroes should not surprise us. Within a century of his accession to the Persian throne, a romanticized account of Darius' rise to power was current in the Greek world.31 Little more than 125 years after Cyrus founded the Persian empire Herodotus knew four versions of his story, and even the least exaggerated of these consisted mostly of folktales (1.95.1). The accounts of Cyaxares' and Astyages' reigns are correct in essentials, but much amplified by legendary material.

The rapid translation of historical events into legendary tales, combined with the at best limited literacy of the Medes, indicates oral tradition as the means by which the names and stories preserved in the Medikos Logos were handed down.32 The organization of Median history around the lives of a few unrelated heroes suggests the format for these traditions: independent heroic sagas. This conclusion in itself is hardly a novel one.33 What is surprising is the wide geographic range from which the sagas used in constructing the Median "national history" were drawn. This suggests the possibility that we know less than we thought we knew about what areas comprised "Media" when its unification was finally accomplished in the late seventh century, what ethnic elements were incorporated into the new nation, and when its "history" was arranged in the form in which it was transmitted to Herodotus. These are questions which can only be raised here. To seek answers to them would carry us far beyond the limits of this study. But the heterogeneous origins of the Midikos Logos may lend support to the suggestions advanced in recent years that Median unification involved the fusion of various Iranian and non- Iranian peoples into a single nation-state.34

Finally, we may note the way in which Achaemenid propaganda could modify and confuse, albeit unintentionally, the oral traditions which comprised Median "history". The name of the historical




seventh-century figure Kashtaritu was borrowed by the sixth-century Median rebel Fravartish (Phraortes). Fravartish apparently hoped to invest himself with the prestige of this earlier Zagros prince, whom Median tradition had adopted as a national hero. By the fifth-century, the Bisitun account of this onomastic usurpation had been widely disseminated and was probably more familiar to most Persian subjects than the original version of the Kashtaritu saga. Consequently, it would seem, the names of Fravartish and Kashtaritu became confused, and Fravartish (in its Greek form Phraortes) became the name of the seventh-century "Median" king as well.35

To conclude: the only written information on early Median history which is of any real value is provided by those few references which can be garnered from contemporary Assyrian records. The Midikos Logos misleads the historian with artificial chronology and an unhistorical narrative constructed from independent sagas based on the lives of a few originally unrelated Zagros heroes. The stages by which the Midikos Logos evolved into its final form cannot be reconstructed with certainty. It may be, however, that the incorporation of various indigenous Zagros peoples into a united Media late in the seventh century was accompanied by the sharing of popular tales from all over the Zagros region. When a saga of national liberation came to be composed (probably in the early sixth century) the best-known heroes from originally local sagas were included, assigned prominent roles, and apparently even linked dynastically. It is this account which Herodotus, or his Greek predecessor in the field of Median historiography, seems to have heard.36 The reign dates for the Median kings, as Drews and others have noted, have their rationale in the attempts of one or more Greek chronographers to coordinate the chronologies of the Oriental empires known to them, Lydia, Assyria, and Media, with Greek mythography.

I wish to thank Professors James D. Muhly, Hayim Tadmor, and Donald Lateiner for helpful criticism and advice. The

idiosyncrasies which remain are, of course, my own.

2 George Smith, "Assyrian History, Additions to History of

Tiglath-Pileser II," ZAS VII (1869), 98. For background on the archaeology of Iran during the Median

period see Robert Dyson, "Problems of protohistoric Iran as seen from Hasanlu", JNES XXIV (1965) 193-217, and T. Cuyler Young, Jr., "The Iranian Migrations into the Zagros", Iran V (1967), 11-34.

For the site of Godin Tepe: T. C. Young, Jr., Excavations at Godin Tepe: First Progress Report (Ontario, 1969); Louis Levine, "Of Medes and Media", Rotunda (Winter, 1970), 36-44; Young and Levine, Excavations at Godin Tepe: Second Progress Report (Ontario, 1974).

For Tepe Nush-i Jan: David Stronach, "Tepe Nush-i Jan: A Mound in Media", Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (November, 1968), 177-186; "Excavations at Tepe Nush-i Jan, 1967", Iran VII (1969), 1-20; D. Stronach and Michael Roaf, "Tepe Nush-i Jan, 1970: Second Interim Report", Iran XI (1973), 129-140; Stronach et al., "Excavations at Tepe Nush-i Jan etc.", Iran XVI (1978), 1-28.

For possible Median influence at Baba Jan see Clare Goff, "Luristan in the first half of the First Millennium B.C.", Iran VI (1968), 130 ff.; "Excavations at BabaJan, 1967", Iran VII (1969), 137; "Excavations at Baba Jan, the Architecture of the East Mound, Levels II and III", Iran XV (1977), 103-140, esp. 135. E.G. Eduard Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums I (Stuttgart, 1884), ?? 374, 462, 463, 512 (repeated without revision in the second edition of 1937); J. V. Praigek, Geschichte der Meder und Perser (Gotha, 1906), 92-105; A. T. E. Olmstead, History of the Persian

Empire (Chicago, 1948), 23, 29-32; Roman Ghirshman, Iran (Harmondsworth, 1954), 96. I. M. Diakonov, Istoria Midii (Moscow, 1956); references to this work, not available to me, are based on Ghirshman's summary in BibO XV (1958), 257-261. For Kashtaritu's relationship to Deioces, see page 259.

Not all scholars have relied on the Midikos Logos to this extent. Sidney Smith (CAH III [New York, 1925], 51 note 1) concluded of Deioces and Daiukku "the two men can hardly be

the same", and left the Herodotean evidence out of account. Arthur Christensen (Kulturgeschichte des Alten Orients [Munich, 19331, 234) considered the Herodotean account of events before Cyaxares' reign completely unhistorical. Others, like l.abat ("Kaitariti, Phraorte et les D&buts de l'Histoire Mede,"JA [1961], 1-12), have challenged the historicity of specific segments of the Midikos Logos without rejecting the narrative in its entirety.

5 "Upper Asia" in Herodotus means Asia east of the Halys river. See Robert Drews, "The Fall of Astyages and Herodotus' Chronology of the Eastern Kingdoms", Historia 18 (1969), 6. The common statement that Phraortes died in an attack on Nineveh may represent a misinterpretation of Herodotus' statement that Phraortes perished "campaigning against the Assyrians-the Assyrians who occupied Ninos.. ."

(oTpar•uaOdgvo- Enti Tos- 'Aooupiou Kicai 'Aaoupiov

•o6roust9 di Nivov gXov . . (1.102.2).

Herodotus probably intended to distinguish the "Ninevite Assyrians" from the inhabitants of "the Babylonian part (of Assyria)" (Tijq Bapoukovinrls goipil?) which comprised "the Assyrian empire" (rilv 'Aooupicov &pXilv) of Labynetus (1.106.3, 1.188.1). It is doubtful that an attack on Nineveh is intended here.

6 Most authorities agree that Cyaxares' last years were occupied with the war against Alyattes of Lydia. The battle at the Halys may be dated to 585 B.c., 27 years after Cyaxares' participation in the sack of Nineveh. Other classical authors dated the conclusion of the war to the reign of Astyages (see G. L. Huxley, "A War Between Astyages and Alyattes", GRBS 6 [19651, 201-206; Kurt Von Fritz, Die Griechische Geschichtsschreibung I (Berlin, 1967), 379-381, 381 note 94). Herodotus' chronology of the Median and Lydian kings also favours a date late in Cyaxares' reign for this war. Herodotus, however, seems to have believed that the Lydian war occupied the first years of Cyaxares' reign. Thus, after mentioning this king's reorganization of the Median army, Herodotus continues the account of his reign:

"this is the man who, having subjugated all of Upper Asia, was fighting the Lydians when, during the battle, day became night. And having subdued all (of Upper Asia) under his authority, he attacked Ninos .. ." (otos a roiaot AuSoioi Co t t"aXaaaogEvoa o6re vuvt '

AL•PT E yvETa

o(pt Laxocvootat, ica b trilv

"Atuoo ntotaglo6 W'vO 'Aoiiv naoav



HERODOTUS' MADIKOS LOGOS AND MEDIAN HISTORY 89

ca lun ar 6BouT5. auXhthaq 88 to'ir bii'&o)uTq &pxogevous iadvraq

ixrpatc6gso E ni rlTv Nivov ... 1.103.2) This was the first, abortive attack on Ninos. After the expulsion of the Scythians 28 years later, Cyaxares "captured Nineveh... and made the Assyrians, except for those of the Babylonian part (of Assyria) vassals. After these affairs Cyaxares, having reigned 40 years including the Scythian interregnum, died."

rl?v TE Nivov E~0v... Kai ro6•s

'Aocupious 56nozotpiouS

ctotioaavTo •ilyv Tfij Bapl3uvir7; Loip•1. Lerd 8& Ta6ta

KuadpT s gVsc, p3at6as" o otra aspdKovr tMa V ov roto ICrC60at

iptav, TEXCu?r ... 1.106.2,3). Herodotus may have been misled by Cyaxares' initially friendly treatment of the Scythian nomads who became the casus belli (implying a date before the Scythian conquest of Media, 1.73-74). The Babylonian Labynetus who participated in the Lydo-Median peace conference was presumably the father of Herodotus' last king of Babylon (1.188.1 ; cf. Huxley, 202 note 1).

7 A. G. Lie, The Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria, the Annals (Paris, 1929), Annals of Room II, lines 101-104. D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (Chicago, 1926-27) (hereafter LAR), II. 12.

s H. Winckler, Die Keilschrtfttexte Sargons I (Leipzig, 1889), 106-107, line 49. (=LAR 11.56).

9 See e.g., Meyer (above, note 4) ? 462; Praiek (above note 4) 93 ff.; F. W. Konig, Alteste Geschichte der Meder und Perser (Leipzig, 1934) 20-21; A. T. E. Olmstead, History of Assyria (New York, 1923), 245; E. Cavaignac, "Mides et Perses", in Dictionnaire de la Bible, Supplement 5 (Paris, 1957), 969; R. N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (New York, 1963) 94-95; Ghirshman (above, note 4) 96; cf. also Riidiger Schmitt, "Deiokes" AnzWien 110/6 (1973), 144 note 35.

10 For these texts, which represent questions addressed by the

Assyrian king to the royal seers of the god Shamash, see J. A. Knudtzon, Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott II (Leipzig, 1893) nos. 1-15; E. G. Klauber, Politisch-Religidse Texte aus der Sargonidteit (Leipzig, 1913) nos. 1-8, 12-13.

" The identification of Phraortes with Kashtaritu was first formulated by Konig (above, note 9). Already in 1906, however, Praiek had suggested that Phraortes took the throne-name "Chiacrita" upon his accession (above, note 4, 140), an

explanation endorsed anew by Frye (above, note 9, 95 and note 28) and Stronach (Iran VII, 6 and note 31). The name is certainly related to Iranian khshdyathiya, which Emile Benveniste (Indo- European Language and Society [Coral Gables, 1973] 314) identifies as the Median term for "king". The context of the Bisitun

Inscription, ??24, 52, however, indicates that Iranian "Khshathrita" might also be used as a personal name.

Kashtaritu's filiation from Daiukku has been articulated by a number of scholars, including Konig (29-30); George Cameron, History of Early Iran (Chicago, 1936), 177 and more recently s.v. "Media" in the Encyclopedia Britannica 15 (Chicago, London, etc., 1972) 67-68; R. Ghirshman (above, note 4) 96; Diakonov (above, note 4); Frye (loc.cit.) and Stronach (loc. cit.). The only vigorous objection to the identification has been that of Rene Labat (above, note 4).

12 For the dates of the omen queries see Cameron, History of Early Iran, 177; D. J. Wiseman, "The Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon", Iraq XX (1958), 10. For the Herodotean dates see Labat (above, note 4), 3 and above, p. 87 and notes 28-29. S Stronach, Iran VII, 6; cf. KTonig (above, note 9) 27; Cameron, History of Early Iran, 178; Olmstead, History of Assyria, 29; Wiseman (above, note 12) 13; Frye (above, note 9) 95-96; W. Culican, The Medes and the Persians (New York, 1965), 50.

14 E. Cavaignac's speculations ("Sur un passage de la tablette B. M. 25 127", RAssyr. 51 (1957), 28-29) that several broken lines of the so-called "Chronicle Concerning the Early Years of

Nabopolassar" originally contained a reference to Phraortes' attack on Nineveh seems unlikely on chronological and other grounds. See above note 5.

" Cf. Konig (above, note 9) 29; Cameron, History of Early Iran, 177;

Wiseman (above, note 12) 13. But see the objections of Ernst Herzfeld (t1948), The Persian Empire (edited from the posthumous papers by Gerold Walser, Wiesbaden, 1968) 192; and Labat (above, note 4) 8.

16 Klauber (above, note 10), no. 16, line 2. The identification was first proposed by H. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen I

(Leipzig, 1893) 488. 7 A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (Locust Valley,

1975), 93-94, Chronicle 3, lines 29, 30, 40, 47; 106, Chronicle 7, ii, lines 1-2.

18 For the relative locations of Uishdish and Media at this time see Louis Levine, "Geographical Studies in the Neo-Assyrian Zagros, II", Iran XII (1974), 113f., 117f. It might be hoped that Daiukku's name would itself provide some clue to his ethnic origins. Unfortunately it seems that the names Daiukku and Deioces have found etymologies in almost every language where one has been sought, including Greek, Akkadian, Hurrian and Old Persian. See Rtidiger Schmitt (above, note 9) for full

bibliography on the various attempts to analyze this name. Schmitt himself concludes that a Median or Old Persian hypo- coristicon furnished the basis for this name.

19 Lie (above, note 7), line 114 (=LAR 11.15); the annals here recount Sargon's fortification of Kdr-Sarrukfn (the city of Harhar) "for the

subjugation of the land of the Medes" (ana suknus KUR Madydja). Young (Iran V, 16) reviews the evidence for Median political involvement with Mannea and notes other Mannean leaders with Iranian names. The fact remains, however, that the Assyrian kings who dealt with these figures apparently did not consider them Medes. If Young's association of the spread of Iron III pottery with the "political unification and spread of the Medes" is correct, then Median influence in Mannea would not have become significant much before the late seventh century (ibid. 33). Note also Young's cautionary remarks on the use of Iranian onomastic evidence for the study of Mannea in this period.

20 Winckler's [KUR Bft]-Da-a-a-uk-ki is, in fact, to be read [KUR Ma-1da-a-a u ("the land of the Medes and..."). The correction was made more than half a century ago by F. Thureau-Dangin, "Les Annales de la Salle II du Palais de Khorsabad", RAssyr. 24 (1927), 75 note 3. For appearances of "Bit-Daiukki" in modern studies see above, note 9, to which add T. C. Young, Jr., Proto- Historic Western Iran, An Archaeological and Historical Review: Problems and Possible Interpretations (University of Pennsylvania Dissertation, 1963), 221.

2' Cameron, History of Early Iran, 178; Louis Levine, "Geographical Studies in the Neo-Assyrian Zagros, I", Iran XI (1973) 22 and note 98; cf. 23; See also the remarks of Julian Reade, "Kassites and

Assyrians in Iran", Iran XVI (1978) 137-143. 22 Knudtzon (above, note 10) no. 2, lines 2-6. 25 The phrase in question recurs in various forms in Knudtzon

(above, note 10) nos. 1, 6, 8, 11, 12; Klauber (above note 10), nos. 1, 7, 8 and typically reads: ls mKaotariti adi ,dbf~u 1z sdbf LO Gimirraja hl~

.sbf LO Mad~ja ls sftbf LU Mannar-a If LU nakru mal bazi ... GN

iqabbats. Properly translated the phrase refers to a multiplicity of potential enemies rather than to a coalition, and should be understood "will either Kashtaritu and his troops, or the troops of the Cimmerians, or the troops of the Medes or the troops of the Manneans or any other enemy that exists... capture GN ?"

That Kashtaritu attempted to form some sort of coalition is evident from Knudtzon, nos. 2 and 5, in which he is said to have written to other chieftains requesting an alliance.

24 The impossibility of attributing the unification of the Median nation to Daiukku has been recognized by most scholars, who, nonetheless, generally try to assign the Mannean governor some role in Median history. See above, notes 9 and 11.

25 Lie(above, note 7), lines 100, 114-116 (=LAR II.11, 15). 26 Rykele Borger, Die Inschriften Asarhaddons Kinigs von Assyrien (Graz,

1956), 54-55 ?27, Episode 15: A, IV 32-45. 27 See, e.g., H. Strasburger, "Herodots Zeitrechnung", Historia 5




(1956) 136-140 and 141 note 2; Ren? Labat (above, note 4); M. Miller, "Herodotus as Chronographer," Klio 46 (1965); W. den Boer, "Herodot und die Systeme der Chronologie", Mnemosyne 20 (1967) 51-52; Kurt Von Fritz (above, note 6), 183-188, notes 87 ff.; R. Drews (above, note 5); C. Masetti, "Le Fonti di Erodoto Per la Storia Dell' Oriente", Helikon 11-12 (1971-72), 279-285).

28 Labat, in his energetic attack on the Kashtaritu-Phraortes identification (above, note 4), demonstrated that the best manuscript tradition shows Herodotus believed the 28 years of Scythian control were concurrent with the greater part of Cyaxares' 40-year reign. Thus dates for the Median kings derived by adding the 28 year Scythian domination as a separate entry are incorrect. None of the efforts to reconcile the reign totals given for the individual Median kings with the total for the Median arche' provided by Herodotus in 1.130.1 has proved convincing. Drews (above, note 5), 7-8, has demonstrated that Herodotus meant to add-th-28-year Scythian period to a 128-year Median archi over Upper Asia. Cf. Strasburger (above, note 27) 138-139.

Drews is undoubtedly correct in his conclusion that Herodotus' chronographic information was received from a predecessor whose historical reconstruction differed from his own.

29 Grayson (above, note 17), 92, Chronicle 3, lines 23 ff. For the date of Cyaxares' death see above, note 6. If Drews' suggested date of 554/3 for the fall of Astyages is correct, then either the 35 years attributed to the last Median king was also wrong or Herodotus' association of Cyaxares with the Lydian war is in error.

30 See the summary in Darius Bisitun ?52, translated in Roland G. Kent, Old Persian, Grammar, Texts, Lexicon, (New Haven, 1953), 131. The Babylonian rebels Nidintu-Bel and Arkha each claimed to be "Nebuchadrezzar, the son of Nabonidus". The Magian Gaumata and the Persian Vahyazdata each claimed to be "Smerdis, the son of Cyrus"; the Persian Martiya claimed "I am Imanish (i.e. Ummanigash, an Elamite king contemporary with Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal) King in Elam". For the claim of Cigantakhma of Sagartia see below, note 34.

31 Herodotus' account seems to have been loosely based on the version of the Bisitun Inscription, which was certainly circulated throughout the Ionian Greek cities, since Darius himself declared "this inscription [i.e. copies of its text] I sent off everywhere among the provinces" (DBe ?70). Partial duplicates have been discovered at Babylon (Akkadian) and at Elephantine (Aramaic). For bibliography see Kent (above, note 30), 108. For the various opinions on the relationship between the Herodotean and Bisitun versions see A. J. Toynbee, A Study of History (London, New York, Toronto, 1955) VII, 599 note 2. The Herodotean account, however, is embroidered with folktale. The story of Otanes' daughter (3.68-69) and of the groom's ruse by which Darius won the throne (3.85-87) are the most obvious legendary elements. Within a century of Darius' death the Bisitun monument itself had been attributed to the quasi-mythical Semiramis (Ctesias, FGrHist III C No. 688, F.1 [131, lines 20-23).

32 For oral saga among the Medes and Persians, cf. Xenophon,

Cyropaedia 1.2.1. No Median inscriptions have been discovered to date, but various scholars have argued for Median literacy on other grounds. See, e.g., R. Ghirshman, "L'tcriture Cunbiforme Vieux-Perse", JNES XXIV (1965), 248 and notes 16-18; M. A. Dandamaev, Persien unter den ersten Achiimeniden (6. Jahrhundert v. Chr.) (Wiesbaden, 1976), 39; I. M. Diakonov, "The Origin of the 'Old Persian' writing system and the ancient Oriental epigraphic and annalistic traditions", in W. B. Henning Memorial Volume (London, 1970), 122. Diakonov's hypothesis of a genre of Median annals based on the Urartian annals genre is endorsed by I. Gershevitch, "Editor's Preface" to R. T. Hallock, "The Evidence of the Persepolis Tablets", published as a fascicle of The Cambridge History of Iran (London, 1971) 7-8.

3 As early as 1884 Meyer referred to the "saga" which made Deioces the first king of Media (see above, note 4). For a possible analogy to the translation of independent sagas into a single national history, constructed along genealogical lines, see the remarks of Martin Noth (The History of Israel [New York, 19601, 121-127) on the patriarchal narrative. Cf. also Thomas L. Thompson, "Some Notes on the Structure of Genealogies and Sagas in Antiquity", in The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (Berlin, New York, 1974), 311-314. I am indebted to Professor Robert Drews for bringing this analogy to my attention.

34 It has long been realized that Herodotus' list of the six Median tribes (1.101) contains little of historical or ethnographic value (see Ksnig [above, note 9] 6; Christensen [above, note 4] 233; Herzfeld [above, note 151] 301). Only Herodotus' Paritakinoi seem to be well attested as a genuine ethnic subdivision of the Medes. Recent studies have suggested that the Medes "were possibly no more than a loose confederation of tribes as late as the middle of the eighth century. Not all of these are thought to have been Iranian in origin and much of the population probably continued to speak either Guti or Lullubi dialects well into the seventh century." Stronach (Iran VII) 5; Diakonov (above, note 4) 257-258; T. C. Young (above, note 20) 221-222.

It is interesting to note in this regard that the Sagartian rebel Cigantakhma also claimed to be "of the family of Cyaxares" (Bisitun ?33), yet the Sagartians were considered by Herodotus to be a tribe of the Persians, not Medes at all (1.125.4). Other ancient authorities (e.g. Ptolemaeus, Geog. 6.2.6 [ed. Nobbe]) considered the Sagartians inhabitants of Media. Various associations with different Assyrian toponyms have been suggested (e.g. Herzfeld [above, note 151 243), but the most likely candidate is Zakruti, mentioned by Sargon in the Najafahebad Stele (Louis Levine, Two Neo-Assyrian Stelaefrom Iran [Ontario, 19721] 40, line 46; cf. Levine [above, note 181 113-117).

" Cf. I. M. Diakonov, "Phraortes" in Encyclopedia Britannica 17 (Chicago, London, etc., 1972), 1007.

36 Another explanation for the transmission of the Midikos Logos into Greek historiography was proposed by Prisek ("Hekataios als Herodots Quelle zur Geschichte Vorderasiens", Klio 4 [1904] 193-208), who believed that the descendants of Harpagus shared their knowledge of Median history with Hecataeus.



herodotus' "mêdikos logos" and median history

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